EDWARDSVILLE - Savannah Ford, along with Ciara Cunningham, are the only two seniors who'll play for the Edwardsville girls volleyball team this coming season, and both are very excited for the season to get underway on Sept. 2, 2025, at home against Belleville West.
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Last fall, Ford had a very good season statistically for the Tigers, serving up 174 points and an astonishing 53 aces, along with 17 kills, 483 offensive assists and two defensive assists, two blocks, and 161 digs as the Tigers wound up with a 23-14 record, being eliminated by Belleville West in the IHSA Class 4A regional final at Liberty Middle School.
As preseason practice continued, Ford felt things had been going very well for the Tigers in the workouts, and she thinks the Tigers will be ready for a big season.
Savannah is a Spencer Homes Female Athlete of the Month for the Tigers.
"Things have been going well," Ford said. "It's different, having only two seniors this year, but I kind of like it, because we split everything very evenly, and we have a whole new team this year, because we had seven seniors graduate."
Both Ford and Cunningham have played together since sixth grade, and that long-time bond is very helpful, as both players know how the other will react to a play.
"It definitely helps with the leadership," Ford said, "because I know everything that she's (Cunningham) is going to do on the court, so it helps us connect, and we can score a lot more points that way, if we can."
Of course, Ford has a number of goals and aspirations for this season, one of which involves her service game.
"I have goals to break my ace record that I got last year," Ford said, "and that's really it. I just have a really big serving goal that I want to get."
And as far as the Tigers go?
"For the team, I hope that we're regional champions," Ford said. "We are almost every year."
Needless to say, Ford is very excited to get the season underway and is looking forward to seeing what lies ahead this year.
"I'm really excited for games to start," she said.
Especially with the Tigers returning home to Lucco-Jackson Gym this season, where repairs to the gym floor forced the team to move their home matches to Liberty Middle School in 2024.
"I'm really excited," Ford said, "because last year, all of the seniors couldn't have their posters in the gym, so this year, we're going to get recognized more. And we have a whole new gym floor, it's really nice. I'm very excited for the games to start."
